The Predator

The boys and I were chopping weeds in the swale when I heard a gasp from Joe. I thought it was a gasp of fear until I saw his excited little face.

“What is it buddy?”

Without a sound, he pointed to a rather large spider web with 4 or 5 mummified Japanese beetles just waiting to be eaten.

I smiled, happy to see that there was at least one natural predator of these destructive bugs.

I turned my head to continue chopping and dropping and came face to face with a black and yellow beast with 8 black and brown legs.

Now, I don’t want the boys to be scared of spiders, or anything else for that matter. I want to them to have a healthy dose of caution when facing any thing or situation, yes; but I don’t want them to run away screaming in terror.

So normally, I would remain calm and squash my fear, showing them that spiders are nothing to be afraid of–but this thing was seriously two inches from my nose.

So yes, I freaked out.

Yellow Garden Orb Weaver

After I had calmed down, Joe was looking at me like I was, well, crazy.

He walked over to me and patted me on the shoulder.

“It’s ok Mom. Spiders are good. They eat bugs.”

I smiled and gave him a hug.

“You are right, buddy. You are right.”

Then we went back to chopping and dropping…far away from the web of course.